‘It’s a medieval vision’: fears for LGBTQ+ rights in Meloni’s Italy

Concerns far-right government could try to justify homophobia or tamper with civil unions law

Holding a rainbow flag, Marco Marras walked on stage at the start of a rally being held by Giorgia Meloni in Sardinia during her election campaign to confront her about gay rights. As security men moved to shoo him away, the student told the Brothers of Italy leader, now Italy's first female prime minister, he wanted to be able to get married and raise a family in his own country. Meloni replied: You want a lot of things ... everyone wants things; you already have civil unions."

If gay people in Italy, a country that regularly ranks in reports as being among the worst in western Europe for LGBTQ+ rights, had already understood that privileges so far gained were threadbare, Meloni made it explicitly clear they would not get any better under her government.